1) you relpace broken shoelaces, hang hammoks and clothes, and tow your buddies out of sand pits with the extra lengths of Qline you keep in teh back of the car
2) you develop a sudden affection for wind chimes and hang them strategically around your house so the different tones alert you to wind direction and speed
3) above chimes awaken you at ungodly morning hours and you sprint to the beach without so much as a kiss to your girl or your morning coffee
4) for the first time in your life you have a "six pack" of abs and very defined quadriceps
5) stainless steel orings, snap shackles, and clam cleats are your idea of the "family jewels"
6) you can never have enough rope
7) you carry a spare piece of leader line and, when bored at parties or on the plane or in line at the bank you practice all kinds of intricate knots you have no less than 327 personal "wind meters" that you glance at every day on your commute. These include but are not limited to flags, trees, peeling billboard ads, etc etc
9) every sunset session is a "religeous experience"
10) the shoe repair guy gets to know you on a first name basis and has operated on your harness 7 times in that many months and you have pretty much convinced HIM to go buy a kite
11) you have devoloped intricate "systems" for everything from loading the car to laying your lines to cinching the harness to pulling out bladders and you mentally time yourself every run through so as to be a lean, mean, kiting machine and not lose one precious second of time on the water
12)you are absolutely sure that you will be able to kitesurf until you are 83...and youll be jumping higher each year.
13) you have reacurring fantasies of somehow becoming one of those lucky bastards that gets to ride all the prototype gear and go on all the photoshoots
14) you find it VERY, VERY difficult to get psyched to go play raquetball or ride your bike or go scuba diving...I mean, what if it starts to blow and im far from my kite!!??
15) youre convinced that the human race has finally begun to evolve again and that WE are leading the pack!

oh...theres much more lunacy but my fingers are tired;) add yours, its a hoot to see how many of you are as downright crazy about this sport as me...and maybe i can justify my actions to my girlfriend if she sees Im not the only one "evolving."

I feel the same and fine myself constantly watching tree tops to see how much wind there is even though im at work and cant get to the beach.

Every sport I see infact anything that invovles excercise I compare it to kitesurfing.

I often am fighting with non kitesurfing friends that kitesurf is better then everything.

I try so hard to get my friends invovled but it comes down to it cost so much and they dont understand that spending $2000 bucks here will redifine fun in there life. And I still cant believe that a few although are just as Fit as I have no interest what so ever in Kitesurfing. They would rather spend all there money on shit.

When I have no wind or am just board I will sit down and study kitesurfing movies. But when my non kitesurfing mates come around they cant watch it for 5 seconds. I think there jealous...

I wish kites cost $500-800 bucks (AUS). considering its just some fabric that can be bought in rolls rather cheap and have the same amount of sewing as a 2 man tent. Not to mention the life of the kites are usually very short and need replacing every 2 years.

Then I could kite with my mates. make big trips down the coast to awesome spots where no one surfs. get some awesome footage and have a great time.

You have a massive stupid grin on your face whilst hosing the kite down with water in the garden after an epic session.

Afterwards you think a clean kite sat in your garden drying off is a beautiful sight, while you're girlfriend thinks you've lost the plot and wished you treated everything else in the house with the same care and attention.

I'd like to add some more points, you know you are addiccted to kitesurfing when...

1. You're kite buddies replace your lifelong high school buddies.
2. You find yourself daydreaming about kitesurfing at all hours of the day, and during different activities(Calculus exams).
3. YouÃ‚Â´ve only stayed at home for 3 weekends in a 5 month period, 2 of which were because of weddings, birthday parties.
4. You are constantly trying to figure out the windspeed in anything you see, movies, magazines, "wild on" shows in Belize, pictures.
5. You are constantly asking friends who went to beaches etc, who don't kitesurf, if it was windy when you werenÃ‚Â´t there.
6. Have replaced dreaming with hot blondes, to landing quadruple back rolls in Hawaii.
7. Add up what you have spent on kitegear to find out you could have bought a car already.
8. Everyone close to you reports how the wind was where they were automatically, you donÃ‚Â´t even have to ask them anymore.
9. I you have gotten at least 2 buddies on to the sport, your brother, parents or cousins..
10. If your grandma knows that scattered whitecaps begin to form at 8 knots.
Buenos vientos,
Andres Santacruz